High Synagogue, Kraków

The High Synagogue in Kraków (Synagoga Wysoka) stands at Józefa 38 in the Kazimierz district and is the only synagogue in Poland whose prayer hall sits on an upper floor. That elevated position gave the building its name. It was built in the Renaissance style in the sixteenth century.

Why is it called the High Synagogue?

Rather than putting up a free-standing building, the founder placed the prayer hall above a ground floor occupied by shops. The ground floor and cellars were used for trade and had their own entrance on the east side, while worshippers came in from the west. It stood by a gate of the former Jewish town, close to Christian houses. This arrangement, with a prayer room added as an extra storey of a house, resembles the synagogues of the Venetian ghetto, and it is a rare solution in Central Europe.

Who built it, and when?

King Sigismund II Augustus granted permission for the project. The request came from a wealthy merchant known only by his first name, Israel, and construction lasted from 1556 to 1563. The stone and brick façade on Józefa Street is braced by four massive buttresses framing three tall round-headed windows, and a carved late Renaissance portal leads inside.

How did the building change over the centuries?

In 1657, during the Swedish invasion known as the Deluge, the synagogue was ransacked. After repairs it received rich new furnishings. A later renovation is marked by the date 1863, painted between the windows of the south wall next to a verse from Genesis about the house of God and the gate of heaven. In the late 1880s the synagogue was joined to the neighbouring house at Józefa 36, whose upper floor was fitted out with a women's gallery and an additional prayer room. In 1897 a small annex with another women's prayer room followed.

What happened during the war?

The German occupiers wrecked the interior and looted the liturgical furnishings. The barrel vault of the main hall was destroyed together with its paintings, the bimah was lost and the women's gallery ceased to exist. One large brass menorah survived because it was taken to Wawel Castle, where it decorated the rooms used by Hans Frank.

What came after 1945?

After the war the building was used as a warehouse. In 1966 the authorities handed it over to the state monument conservation workshops, which adapted it for their own use. They added a staircase and new entrances, changed the vault of the main hall and built the glazed structure on the roof that now sets the building apart. They also secured the old paintings and the ark, finishing in 1971. From 2005 the main hall hosted exhibitions on the history of Polish Jews, as well as concerts. In 2008 the Jewish Religious Community of Kraków recovered part of the building. On the fourth floor, in the community's section, is the Kraków branch of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland.

What survives inside?

On the axis of the east wall is the stone niche of the Torah ark, framed by two columns carrying an entablature. Its upper panel shows two griffins flanking the Hebrew words "Crown of the Torah". Before the war the ark was closed with openwork metal doors featuring a crowned eagle, two bear cubs holding shofars and the signature of the craftsmen, Zelaman and Chaim, sons of Aaron. Fragments of seventeenth-century wall paintings remain as well: inscriptions in decorative borders, the hands of priests raised in blessing beneath a Torah crown, and bouquets of flowers in vases.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called the High Synagogue? Its prayer hall is on an upper floor, above former shops, rather than at street level.

When was it built? Between 1556 and 1563, with the permission of King Sigismund II Augustus.

Who owns the building? In 2008 the Jewish Religious Community of Kraków recovered part of it.

What remains of the original furnishings? The stone frame of the Torah ark with its griffins, fragments of wall paintings and a menorah that survived the war at Wawel Castle.